General 12/2/2025 11:25:00 PM

Blinn Call of Duty outlasts Keyano to reach NJCAAe National Tournament championship

The Buccaneers will battle the University of South Carolina-Sumter in the championship on Tuesday, Dec. 9

General 12/2/2025 11:25:00 PM

Blinn Call of Duty outlasts Keyano to reach NJCAAe National Tournament championship

The Buccaneers will battle the University of South Carolina-Sumter in the championship on Tuesday, Dec. 9

The Blinn College esports Call of Duty team will play for a national championship once again.

The Buccaneers outlasted Keyano College 3-2 in a best-of-five series in the NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) National Tournament semifinal round on Tuesday to punch its ticket to the championship match.

Blinn's Call of Duty team will play in the NJCAAe championship match for the third time in program history when it battles the University of South Carolina-Sumter at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9.

The Buccaneers won the national title in the 2023 fall season and finished as runners-up in the spring of 2024.

The team of Jaden Navarro, Aariz Ali, Karsyn Krchnak, and Jordan Vo defeated Keyano on Tuesday, the Bucs' first win over the Huskies in three matches this season.

Tuesday's matchup pitted the four Bucs against the Huskies, with the teams attempting to collect three wins across three modes of play in the first-person-shooter game:

Hardpoint: Teams secure rotating capture points, earning points for control. A team wins by reaching 250 points first.
Search and Destroy: Teams alternate attacking and defending, with the goal to plant or defuse an objective. The first team to win 6 rounds claims victory.
Control: Teams attack and defend two capture points, with limited lives adding an elimination aspect. The first team to win three rounds claims victory.

Keyano opened the match with a 250-215 in the Hardpoint round (Hacienda map) before Blinn rebounded for a 6-5 victory in the Search and Destroy round (Protocol). In round three, the Huskies earned the victory in Control (Hacienda). The Bucs evened the series at 2-2 with a victory in the second Hardpoint round (Skyline), prevailing 250-175, and closed out the series victory with a 6-3 win in the second Search and Destroy map (Hacienda).

Blinn assistant coach and Call of Duty head coach Ryan Lucich praised the performances of Navarro and Ali in the fifth round after both players recorded more than 10 eliminations to give the Bucs a much-needed boost.

"I think this series really showed how talented our team can be and was a testament to the adjustments we made throughout the season," Lucich said. "To finally beat Keyano in our third matchup shows the hard work that we put into the season. It was also a wonderful display of how all four of our players can play at a high level. They all had huge moments throughout the series and it truly was a team win."

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Aariz Ali: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Karsyn Krchnak: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Jaden Navarro: Freshman; Call of Duty

Jordan Vo: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Players Mentioned

Aariz Ali
: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Karsyn Krchnak
: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Jaden Navarro
: Freshman; Call of Duty

Jordan Vo
: Sophomore; Call of Duty